Instead of teaching the Bible, the Pharisees taught the traditions of the elders. As a result of this brainwashing, the Jews didn’t recognize Christ when He appeared because He didn’t match the false image of Christ that was programmed into their minds. The street rabble recognized Christ because they hadn’t been subjected to the false teaching from the Rabbis. It was the Synagogue hypocrites who branded Christ as an imposter and then murdered Him. They witnessed the miracles and they killed Him anyway. Brainwashing ruled out their reason and the input from their natural senses. All of us can be brainwashed and this is why Christ warned us to beware the leaven of the Pharisees, specifically in the area of morality and His invisible spiritual Kingdom. The Bible is the only source that describes His Kingdom and the Pharisees removed that truth from Israel by substituting false doctrine. Pastors are doing the very same thing today in spite of the warnings inscribed in the very book these pastors claim as their authority.

The apostle Paul told us the church would collapse in the end, describing the event as the falling away or apostasy. He said hypocrisy would be the prominent feature of the apostate church, describing the members as having a form of Godliness (2 Tim. 3:5). He also said the members would reject sound doctrine and they would gather a great number of false teachers to tell them lies instead of the truth (2 Tim 4:3) in order to whitewash their immorality. We have proof of this prophecy. Most Protestants believe in salvation by faith alone. But here’s what God actually wrote: “A person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).

The situation in the Catholic Church is even worse. The people in both of these churches don’t read the Bible. They prefer false doctrine instead of sound doctrine, just as Paul said they would. As a result of this, they now have a false image of Christ in their minds that was placed there by wolves. A wolf is a former Christian pastor or teacher who was cast out of the Kingdom, never to return. And when these people repeat the falsehoods they learn from the wolves, they become false teachers themselves, a sin that brings swift destruction on the offender (2 Peter 2:1).

The Jews thought they knew Christ and this is why Christ warned us about this deception in His parable of the ten virgins. He shut the door and rejected five of the Christians from the Kingdom, saying, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matt. 25:13). God said the same thing about hypocrites in Proverbs: “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1 KJV). Hypocrites will be cut off in this life. You don’t have to wait for Judgment Day.